How to be Polite During Heated Phone Calls

Many find it hard to keep their cools during difficult phone conversations. Once the discussion rises to a shouting match, it's usually too late to pull back. Practice maintaining your sense of calm throughout the chat.

Instructions

1. Find your center before the call. Try yoga, meditation, or just a long walk to clear your head.

2. Take a deep breath before initiating a call that may be heated. Going into a difficult call without first doing a self-check can cause you to be completely flustered. Dealing with one thing at a time helps keep you calm, cool and collected.

3. Be firm. Part of avoiding mood swings is to be consistent in the conversation and your own head. Giving in too much will just make you angrier. Talk with a civil tongue, but don't be afraid to carry a big stick.

4. Distract yourself. It might help to handle a call from one of your favorite places, or in the company of good friends. Think about how you want to approach the call so that your environment can be a help, not a hindrance.

5. Know when to hang up. Yes, it might be putting some of the awfulness of a situation off for another day, but if you're afraid of where the conversation is going, you can either politely excuse yourself or use some pretext for ending the call. This will give you more time to plot a better response and keep you from a meltdown.